Need for Speed II[Note 1] is a singleplayer and multiplayer racing game co-developed by EA Canada and EA Seattle and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second entry in the Need for Speed series.
The Windows version was released in North America on April 30, 1997, almost a month after the PlayStation version's release. An enchanced Special Edition re-release, which feature extra content and Glide support, was released in North America on October 29, 1997 and in Japan and Europe on February 2, 1998.
It should be noted that installing on 64-bit systems requires a workaround. (See Installing on 64-bit versions of Windows).
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
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Simple CD check. |
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- A demo is available.
Essential improvements
- Adds support for external 3rash API renderers (DirectX, Glide and OpenGL), implements proper widescreen support with correct FOV and higher texture detail for cars, etc.
- Fixes numerous compatibility issues, fixes issues caused by Verok's Modern Patch
- Use with Verok's Modern Patch is strongly recommended, although not mandatory
NFSIISE
- NFSIISE is a cross platform wrapper which utilizes SDL 2 and OpenGL 1/2/ES2 to run the game in Windows, Linux and Android. Bringing 3D acceleration and TCP protocol support, along with force feedback for controllers. For the non 3D acceleration version, NFSIISEN can be used instead.
- Requires Need for Speed II: Special Edition
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video
Input
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
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Surround sound |
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Subtitles |
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Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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French |
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German |
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Italian |
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Spanish |
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Swedish |
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Network
Multiplayer types
Issues fixed
Game wrapper for modern Windows/Linux/MacOS operating systems
Modern NFSIISE wrapper[1]
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- Cross-platform wrapper for the Need For Speed II SE game with 3D acceleration and TCP protocol
- Binary releases for Windows/Linux/MacOS, support for non-x86 CPUs, and build target for Android
- Links: README, Releases.
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Installing original game on 64-bit versions of Windows
Fan-made installer[citation needed]
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- Fan-made installer can be downloaded from nfsplanet.de. It comes with required compatibility tweaks and nGlide wrapper.
Notes
-
Start Glide.exe shuts down explorer.exe for the time of running the game.
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Manual installation of Need For Speed 2 SE[2]
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- Create a new folder named NFS2SE, somewhere on your hard disk.
- From game's CD copy folders FEDATA and GAMEDATA to NFS2SE on your hard disk
- From a root folder on CD copy files:
DSETUP.DLL
EACSND.DLL
INSTALL.NFS
NFS2SEA.EXE
NFS2SEA.ICO
NFS2SEN.EXE
NFS2SEN.ICO
SHELL.DLL
to NFS2SE folder on your hard disk.
- Change the extension of INSTALL.NFS to WIN (INSTALL.WIN).
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Fixing Glide compatibility on modern Windows systems
Fixing compatibility issues[citation needed]
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To fix most of compatibility issues you're going to need a 3dfx wrapper (recommended nGlide) and a small system compatibility patch.
- Download nGlide and install it (default settings should work fine).
- Download compatibility patch, extract it and run PatchInstall.bat.
- To run a game use NFS2SEA.EXE - this exe file uses 3dfx. NFS2SEN.EXE is for software renderer only.
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Fixing sound issues[2]
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If ALchemy is unable to run properly on your pc, then try the alternative method fix by copying the dsound.dll from a Windows XP installation.
- Take dsound.dll from a Windows XP installation or download the dll version 5.3.3790.3959 of dsound from dllDownloader
- Copy it and put it in the installation folder just where nfs2sea.exe is.
- Run nfs2sea.exe and enjoy.
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Running in software rendered mode on modern systems
Despite being able to run in 3dfx mode, the software mode of NFSIISE (NFS2SEN.EXE) is unique for being the only way to play with dashboard view camera and it is the version that preserves the original style of the game.
Fixing compatibility issues[citation needed]
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To fix most of the compatibility issues, these fixes need to be installed using the Compatibility Administrator from the Microsoft Application Compatibility:
- ForceDirectDrawEmulation
- CorrectFilePaths
- EmulateGetDiskFreeSpace
- GlobalMemoryStatusLie
- SingleProcAffinity
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It can be used for both NFSIISE software mode (NFS2SEN.EXE) and NFSII (NFSW.EXE). To solve problems with audio that may appear, follow the "Fixing sound issues" guide.
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
5 |
Special Edition requires DirectX 5.0 |
Glide |
2.4, 3.10 |
|
Software renderer |
|
|
Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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System requirements
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
95 |
98 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium 90 MHz (133 MHz required for Multiplayer)
| Intel Pentium 166 MHz |
System memory (RAM) |
16 MB |
32 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
10 MB |
80 MB |
Video card (GPU) |
Hi Color (65,535) support 1 MB of VRAM DirectX 5.0 compatible
| 3Dfx Voodoo 1 (Special Edition Only) |
Sound (audio device) |
|
16-Bit DirectX 5.0 compatible |
Other |
4x CD-ROM drive Keyboard
Multiplayer: 14400bps or Faster Modem (2 Player), Null Modem Cable (2 Player) and/or IPX-Compliant Network Card (2-8 Players). One CD Per Computer, unless using Remote Installation. |
Mouse, Any DirectInput Compatible Controller. |
Notes
- ↑ While the PlayStation version was released under the name of Over Drivin' II (Japanese:オーバードライビンII), the Windows version of the Special Edition was released under its original name.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%
, %PROGRAMDATA%
, or %WINDIR%
might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
on Windows Vista and later (more details).
References